Guitar question

s_morrison57 · 10-19-2020, 02:43 PM

Was wondering if you guys humidify your acoustic or hollow body electric guitars using some of the products they sell for this purpose?
I keep the in floor heat off in the guitar room and it stays between 68*-74* with a humidity of 50%, the house has one of those humidity systems and its set at 50%.
I'm a rookie, so do you think I need to humidify my guitars and if so how often? What do you do, if anything? None of my guitars are super expensive or rare but they are my friends so I want to do the proper thing.
What do you think?

Finn

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

I use Oasis soundhole humidifiers, they seem to work. No cracks to speak of.

944 S2 · 10-19-2020, 05:09 PM

Are you guitars solid wood or laminated back and side. I have a low end Taylor (plywood back and sides) I don't do anything special other than use a whole house humidifier in dry winters in Ohio.

LWJ · 10-19-2020, 06:00 PM

Great question!

I'm in Portland. A similar climate to you. I did humidify for a while. But, then I looked at my 1941 arch top. Which has never been humidified. It is great. Shows no signs of abuse. So I stopped. I believe it is the temp/ humidity swings that are destructive.

s_morrison57 · 10-19-2020, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 944 S2

Are you guitars solid wood or laminated back and side. I have a low end Taylor (plywood back and sides) I don't do anything special other than use a whole house humidifier in dry winters in Ohio.

1 Yamaha acoustic
1 Gretsch Electromatic hollow body
2 Gretsch Streamliner's, center block hollow body

ckissick · 10-19-2020, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWJ

Great question!

I'm in Portland. A similar climate to you. I did humidify for a while. But, then I looked at my 1941 arch top. Which has never been humidified. It is great. Shows no signs of abuse. So I stopped. I believe it is the temp/ humidity swings that are destructive.

When I built guitars I had to assemble the bodies in a special, low humidity environment, say 50-55%. To get it that low, I would turn up the heat in a closed room. Assembling the body in low humidity prevents the guitar from shrinking and cracking during times of natural low humidity. If you assemble the body in a room with 70% humidity, then you'll have problems. If built correctly, and the humidity goes up after assembly, it swells but doesn't crack. Standard practice. I never heard of humidifying a guitar. A good guitar shouldn't need it.

livi · 10-20-2020, 01:11 AM

What? Never heard about it.

Maybe that explains a lot visavi the musical experience of docfluffer.

LEAKYSEALS951 · 10-20-2020, 03:04 AM

If house is always around 50% humidity, probably no internal humidifier needed.

If you are on baseboard heat/wood stove/ dry air/ or are travelling with guitar on airplanes etc.. consider the humidifier.

I had one guitar I built get the finish destroyed while the player was touring via plane.
I don't know if it was the temp changes /humidity, but it destroyed the finish.

Wild fluctuations in temp/humidity are hard on acoustic guitars.

flatbutt · 10-20-2020, 03:11 AM

My cello cracked one winter even with a humidifier in it. Now I run a large room humidifier instead.

Dpmulvan · 10-20-2020, 05:25 AM

[QUOTE=ckissick;11070979]When I built guitars I had to assemble the bodies in a special, low humidity environment, say 50-55%. To get it that low, I would turn up the heat in a closed room. Assembling the body in low humidity prevents the guitar from shrinking and cracking during times of natural low humidity. If you assemble the body in a room with 70% humidity, then you'll have problems. If built correctly, and the humidity goes up after assembly, it swells but doesn't crack. Standard practice. I never heard of humidifying a guitar. A good guitar shouldn't need it.[/QUOTE

Pure fiction
Been a luthier And guitar tech for 25 years. Guitars are built at least quality ones by using a moisture meter to check wood before construction. Moisture should be between 6-8%. I know Paul Reed Smith goes with 6% and Gibson goes with 8%. A wet paper towel put in a partial open ziplock bag will humidify your dried out acoustic.

ckissick · 10-20-2020, 06:41 AM

[QUOTE=Dpmulvan;11071129]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckissick

When I built guitars I had to assemble the bodies in a special, low humidity environment, say 50-55%. To get it that low, I would turn up the heat in a closed room. Assembling the body in low humidity prevents the guitar from shrinking and cracking during times of natural low humidity. If you assemble the body in a room with 70% humidity, then you'll have problems. If built correctly, and the humidity goes up after assembly, it swells but doesn't crack. Standard practice. I never heard of humidifying a guitar. A good guitar shouldn't need it.[/QUOTE

Pure fiction
Been a luthier And guitar tech for 25 years. Guitars are built at least quality ones by using a moisture meter to check wood before construction. Moisture should be between 6-8%. I know Paul Reed Smith goes with 6% and Gibson goes with 8%. A wet paper towel put in a partial open ziplock bag will humidify your dried out acoustic.

Well, that's what they told me at Luthier's Mercantile back in the 90s. And in Cumpiano's book, as I recall.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

Out here in the desert my guitars are extremely sensitive to humidity changes. The go completely out of tune if not humidified. So something is changing. I have one of those Oasis things, and some tube you soak and put in the sound hole. Also a small clay block that you soak and keep in the case.

I don't know if not humidifying actually hurts the wood or not though.

LEAKYSEALS951 · 07:19 AM

[QUOTE=ckissick;11071241]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Well, that's what they told me at Luthier's Mercantile back in the 90s. And in Cumpiano's book, as I recall.

LOL- I was thinking cumpiano's book said something like "wood moisture concentration should be in that 6% range for being dried (meaning it's ready to use), but that cumpiano specified building guitars in seasons where humidity did not fluctuate to take advantage of 50% humidity levels in the shop. He even went on to write that in the seasons where humidity fluctuations were an issue, he focussed on repairs/other stuff. I cant remember if he built in spring/fall, and avoided summer / winter or vice versa- but I think it was the former.

(been 25 years since I read it though!

)